6 Things Scolari Did Wrong in Brazil’s Clash with Germany

The word clash itself looks funny when you look at it after the results. The 7-1 defeat of Brazil by Germany is not something that was expected even by the craziest supporter of Germany. Though Brazil football fans would love to forget the whole match itself, it is not going to be easy for the nation which eats, walks, talks, sleeps and lives football to forget the darkest day in their football history. They showed their disappointment by cheering for the opposite team, an ultimate humiliation of their team.

No one man can be responsible for a team’s victory as it is a team effort. But at the face of the loss, there is always a scapegoat and this time it seems to be none other than the Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former defender and present manager of the Brazil team. What are the things that Scolari messed up with during the team’s most humiliating defeat on home ground? Let us have a look.

6. No Psychological Strength for His Team

Since the time Thomas Muller scored the first goal with a perfect side-footed shot into the net, the Brazilian team appeared to be shaken. Though they launched an attack immediately, there was no plan or power in their forays which ended without much ado. It was clear that the confidence (or precisely over confidence) of their manager had not prepared them to handle a situation where they could be down.Scolari admitted that his players had panicked, but wasn’t he supposed to stop that from happening? A psychologist was called to help only when players began to show their broken nerves.

5. No Backup Plan

Scolari did not have any good backup plan for the absence of the star players which was glaring when he replaced Neymar with Bernard. He did not have any good replacement for Thiago Silva as well. No team can go into the world cup with just a set of 11 good players; they need to have proper back up plans in case of emergencies, which seems to have been overlooked by the manager. The inclusion of Dante, a player who has barely featured for club and country in the last three months, for Thiago Silva shows how unprepared he was for such situation.

4. Wrong Midfield Plan

The team chosen by Scolari is considered to be a wrong choice by many fans and experts alike. Replacing Neymar with Bernard meant the host nation were open in midfield with only two central midfielders up against Germany’s three. How could a manager in the caliber of Scolari underestimate the power of Germany in the midfield of formidable players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos? The result, the Brazilians struggled and failed terribly to catch up or even come close to German’s midfield power.

Also See

3. Questionable Choice of David Luiz as Captain

Many have questioned the choice of David Luiz as the captain because it meant he had to switch to the left-hand side of the center of defense which was already quite vulnerable. It was very clear that Luiz was not comfortable with the change and he struggled. Before half time the captain was at fault for more than one goal and his all-round performance kept deteriorating as the game progressed.

2. Defense That Fell Apart

So far into the tournament, the Brazil team had played with the tactic of deep defense and attack on the break, but Scolari changed this against the match with Germany. In the semi-final, the Brazil team played a high line which made it easy forLahm’s men to break the defense of Brazil, aided by the huge holes left in their midfiled. The happy Germans responded to this tactic with 5 goals in 19 minutes.

1. Last Moment Change

We have to agree that Germany came to the world cup with a strong midfield, but Brazil was not far behind. They had their own pack of powerful players like Luiz Gustavo, Fenandinho and Paulinho who could combat the strength of Germans on any day. No one can explain why Scolari changed his line-up at 11am on Wednesday – just six hours before kick-off in Belo Horizonte. The Brazilians had never played this line up even during their training. The players were not just shocked but were completely unprepared for such a change. Scolari left out Paulinho and brought in Bernard and clearly out of form Fred, with a plan of attacking the Germans. He clearly left the team unbalanced against a well balanced and unflinching German team. The results clearly show that the plan backfired.